Local breweries welcome sales change

As part of a move to a larger location, Scott Smith will soon have space to install a canning line at Pittsburgh's East End Brewing.

And thanks to a recent change in Pennsylvania's liquor code, Smith would be able to sell his customers a can of beer, rather than a container that carries much, much more.

The change, part of a package of revisions to the liquor code known as Act 113 of 2011, is small but significant. It gives standalone breweries -- those that don't hold brewpub licenses -- the ability to sell beer for off-premises consumption in packages of any size; the previous version of the law limited those breweries to sales of containers that carry at least 64 ounces of beer, the same size as the refillable half-gallon growlers that breweries like East End sell to their customers.

Smith, who is in the process of moving his brewery from its original location on Susquehanna Street in Pittsburgh's Homewood neighborhood to a larger space on nearby Frankstown Avenue, said a canning line is still a long ways off, but the change to the law will help him immediately; he'll be able to legally sell single bottles of the brewery's limited-production beers, rather than selling them in pairs to meet the 64-ounce requirement.

"It's about flexibility, for us and for our customers," Smith said. "We have some leeway in how we sell our beer, and we'll have more when we get a canning line in place. And it gives the customer a chance to try more, rather than committing to a half gallon of beer they might not like."

Frank Elia, the owner of Rochester's Hollywood Gardens bar and fledgling Brixton Brewing, said he's excited about the change, even though another portion of the liquor code -- the one that says he can't hold a retail liquor license and a brewing license at the same time -- will prevent him from taking advantage of it.

"I couldn't give up the (retail) license, because that's how I'm making my money at the moment," Elia said. "But I am allowed to have a brewpub license, so that's the route we're taking.

"The thing that's good about this is that there's a new willingness to look at change, even if it's a small one. The state generally doesn't make it easy on the people in our business, but we're starting to see signs that they're willing to support what we're doing, instead of putting up barriers."

Elia's original plan for Brixton was for two breweries -- one in the basement that would produce beer for the bar above, and a production brewery that would distribute kegs and bottles of Brixton's beers around the region.

With the restriction on holding the retail and brewing license, a brewpub operation was the only realistic option, Elia said.

"We would have taken advantage of the (Act 113) change, if it hadn't been for the other restriction," Elia said. "But it's getting better, and that's a good sign."

Jake Kristophel, co-owner of Full Pint Brewing in North Versailles, said the change came too late for his brewery, which got a brewpub license late last year.

"This would have been a big deal for us if we hadn't added a brewpub license," Kristophel said. "We've accomplished the same thing with that operation, and it's working pretty well."

Like Elia, Kristophel said the fact that the state made some accommodating changes is a signal that Harrisburg is finally paying some respect to the state's growing beer industry.

"It's progress," he said. "It might be slow progress, but we're better off now in terms of liquor laws than we were a few years ago."

Even Smith, who said his attitude towards the state's liquor laws is "the glass is completely empty," is encouraged.

"It's coming slowly," he said. "The brewers in Pennsylvania have more cohesiveness now than at any point in the past, and the state is noticing. I'm definitely still a skeptic, but we're seeing steps in the right direction."